EC Sour Diesel Closet ?'s, venting, fan noise...

[mikessong]

Hi, I have lots of questions so please offer opinions or advice on any, thanks!

I guess the MAIN QUESTION IS THIS:
In a 4.5'x4'x8 space, how many CFM's do I need (the fan would run 24/7 for odor purposes) with a 4" or 6" exhaust to cool an air-cooled 1000w light? And would that fan (say a Dayton blower at the suggested CFM) be loud if I hang it with bungees compared to an air-conditioner on high just outside of the closet?

Here's the whole story:

I'll be growing in a 4.5x4x8 closet with a carbon scrubber. Organic soil. East Coast Sour Diesel clones, which is mostly Sativa and I think it's best grown out a bit so I'm not doing SOG but would still like to get a good yield. How many plants should I flower in this space?

I gather I should use a 1000w HPS Hortilux. Will a 600w be too small?

On to the big issue, ventilation. The attached room has A/C and I live in a warm climate (SoCal). The grow has to be stealth and invisible and most importantly inaudible. The closet is next to the outside but has no outlet and I'd rather not cut one - do I have to? Could I get away with an intake and exhaust that just went to my room? And keep the closet less than 80 and the room around 72 or less? So...

Exhaust: Outside or into the room? How much CFM? 295? 465? How loud are these things? I need something that will do the job but hopefully no louder than the A/C which is five feet away and makes a fair bit of noise. It can be a 6" exhaust particularly if I use an air-cooled hood.

Intake: Outside or inside? The summer high averages 90 here. If it's inside it could be through the back of an adjacent cabinet that I'll leave open, with stuff in it to block the light and allow airflow. I know it's a jerry-rigged scheme but do you think this would a) work?, b) make airflow noise? (i won't have a fan, just passive intake), c) allow smell to leak back into my room? I'll use a carbon scrubber - my plan is to put it near the exhaust and run the exhaust 24/7. Is that the best way?

One other idea I had was to use a 4" exhaust and then intake under my closet door, which would be barely double the surface area. I would have to build some kind of light trap that wouldn't obstruct airflow much - any ideas? Is a 4" exhaust too small?

With a 6" or a 4" exhaust and a 4.5'x4'x8 space, how many CFM's do I need (the fan would run 24/7 for odor purposes) to cool an air-cooled 1000w light? And how loud would that fan be (say a Dayton blower mounted with bungee cords) - about equal to an a/c?

Well that's enough questions for now!!! Thanks for your help...

 

[NorthernKronic]

You definitly need a 6" exhaust, i would steer you away from blowers, they are noisy and big, and you are just gonna have to spend more money to mod them to use the carbon filter anyway, so what i would suggest is getting a 6" 449 cfm vortex fan, i got it in package with a can 33 carbon filter for only $300 shipping included. Thats $100 off the retail for that vortex. I got mine at MDhydro.com they got the best deals on the net in my opinion.

4" exhaust would be far to little if running a 600 or 1k.

Also i would put a 8" darkroom louvers in the closet door for passive air intake, if your room is air conditioned this should keep your temps pretty nice, You have to aircool that light though or your room is gonna be way to hott, 1k lights produce a lot of heat and you gotta remember that.

and for the idea of 600 vs 1000 i would go with the 1k,

your area is 4 x 4.5= 18sqft, 1000/18= 55.5 watts per sqft which is pretty good. the rule of thumb is to have atleast 50 watts per sqft.

The 600 watter will only give you 33.33 watts per sqft which is way lower than what you want.

That 1k is gonna make your space super hott so you need to air cool it no way around that, i would say set your fan onto your scrubber and pull through itand blow out 6" duct thats connected to your hood, then just run duct from your hood to where your going to exhaust, that should handle your smell and your heat problems with one stone, and one fan for that matter.


On the matter of where to exhaust to, i would say you should try your best to exhaust to an attic or another room other than the room your your intaking from. Your airconditioner will thankyou greatly, because it will have to run 24/7 if you vent out all that 1k heat into the same room... well now that i think about it i dont think it would be that bad for the air condition after all. but blah blah blah.

The fan will not be as loud as a running airconditioner, the airconditioner would cover up any noise the fan would be making.

Hope this helps, im sure other peeps on here have more ideas so stay tuned for all of the more experienced guys, this should help a bit though.

-N.Kron

 

[Jnugg]

Don't go with a fan any smaller then 6" and don't use a crappy blower,get a good inline centrifugal fan like Vortex,Can Fan,Eco Plus,Elicient etc. etc. and you'll want that exhuast fan to push some air...no less then 449cfm...especially if you plan on using just one fan for both ventilating the grow space and cooling the light (ie,hooked up to open ended cooltube or a/c hood).

I say get a 8" 800+cfm exhuast fan and run it on a solid state speed controller (slower the fan moves/the less rotations per minute,the quiter the fan will be.The 6" won't be that loud.

The reason for needing such a big powerful fan is becuase you're going to both ventilate the grow and cool the light with just one fan and well when you add a carbon filter/scrubber you are cutting your fans cfm by up to 30%-40%.

Oryou could use the 6" 449cfm vortex to ventilate the area and buy a second 4" 172cfm-6" 449cfm vortex for light cooling.

 

[mikessong]

Thanks for setting me straight, guys...So I'll go with 1000w, Air Cooled, and Inline Fans. Guess I'll have to cut a hole to the outside. I was planning to make a DIY scrubber but maybe I'll get one of those CANs, that's a good deal at mdhydro. Would that CAN33 really be enough, it's rated for 200CFM, or would I need the CAN66?

You guys both bring up a good point, which is one fan or two? Say I have one ~450CFM fan, and say it's really operating at 300 due to restriction from carbon filter, ducting etc. Would adding a 2nd fan at 300 or 450CFM in a different spot in the setup improve airflow much? And which is more efficient, one 800CFM or two 450's? I'm thinking I'd start with one 450 and if it's too hot try adding another fan.

On the intakes, those darkroom louvers would work great for some and you could put the original door back but they don't seem very stealthy. Anyone would know what it was for, probably even my landlord if she ever comes ever. As crazy as my jerry-rigged through-an-open-cabinet intake would be, I feel it's a little stealthier.

And last question (for now!), about how many Sativa dominant plants would you flower in a 4.5x4x8 space? Thanks...

 

[Arkaya]

I would go with a 6 inch vortex the same size as these guys have but I personally use a CAN66 on my 6 inch vortex 450 cfm. You really only need one fan because it will suck up stinky grow smells through the carbon filter, through the fan, through the air cooled hood and then the hot scrubbed air can be exhausted somewhere preferably into the attic. I say pass on the speed controller initially. I have found that the lower you turn the fan with a speed controller the more motor whine it likes to make creating a more annoying and unstealthy noise then the wooshing of air. I don't trust the homemade carbon filters because they are not really made like the pro version to flow good volumes of air.

The darkroom louvers are not stealthy IMHO. They are not stealthy at all when they are pushing air out them either, they open up a bit.

I would find a way to get power into the closet in a stealth way first, in fact I wouldnt even mess with cutting any holes in the door or anything unless you cannot vent to the attic. If you can, try and use some white cord, some white tape and run it along the wall along where the baseboard/moulding for the floor is, this is one way I stealthed power into a closet before and worked pretty good. Pile some clothes/towels up like a lazy slob around the outside of the closet to discourage or hide the power cord.

I think you could reasonably place at least a 12-18 plants in that size space. It depends on how big you grow them out also, a sativa will take a long time to flower and they usually streatch a pretty large amount